


The Birthday

by Mizmak



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Cake, Fluff, Short & Sweet, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21598120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizmak/pseuds/Mizmak
Summary: Crowley neatly avoids a spot of trouble when he brings Aziraphale a cake on a rather special day.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	The Birthday

The Birthday

While Crowley enjoyed drinking alcohol, he rarely ate a meal. Being a demon, of course, he didn’t have to. On his many restaurant outings with Aziraphale, he simply watched his companion dine while he drank a glass or two or three of wine.

Usually Aziraphale insisted he have at least a small taste of his meal, and sometimes he waxed so rhapsodic over his food that Crowley caved and ordered a whole plate for himself. Crowley had decided his friend was absolutely right, for instance, about crepes. They were very good, and worth going to Paris to find.

Crowley did have a sweet tooth, however, and he was always happy to eat dessert. Especially chocolate – both he and Aziraphale considered chocolate to be one of the finest things that humans had ever concocted.

And so when he spied the cake in the window of Aziraphale’s favorite bakery – a dark chocolate cake with fanciful chocolate decorations all over, he knew he had to buy it to share with his friend. The fact it had been marked down due to a misspelled greeting written in pink icing on top didn’t hurt, not that Crowley ever need worry about money.

He brought the boxed-up cake to the bookshop, which had a CLOSED sign up. Aziraphale rarely opened the shop to actual customers – he didn’t truly _want_ to sell any of his precious volumes. Crowley flicked a finger at the locked door, which instantly opened.

Inside, he found Aziraphale at his desk, looking through a pile of musty books. 

“Time for a break,” Crowley said as he set the box on the desk.

“Oh, what’s this?” Aziraphale shoved the books aside. He opened the box. “Cake! _Chocolate_ cake – how scrumptious.”

He carefully lifted the decadent dessert out and looked more closely at its decorations. Then he clapped his hands and broke into a big smile. “You remembered! After all these millennia – you’ve never bothered to celebrate before. Very thoughtful. Pity they spelled it ‘Hapy Birthday’, but the sentiment is unchanged. Be a good fellow and get the plates and forks from the kitchen, will you?”

Crowley sauntered off to Aziraphale’s cozy kitchen in the back of the shop. _Uh-oh_. What on Earth was Aziraphale going on about? They didn’t celebrate birthdays. They hadn’t been _born_. They’d been created during the big six-day event way back when.

He found two plates, forks, and a sharp knife, and he also grabbed two napkins, since he knew how fussy Aziraphale was about crumbs in the shop.

When he returned, he saw that Aziraphale had cleared off the desk and had drawn another chair up. Crowley slouched down into it and handed over the plates and knife.

“Forgot about the candles,” Aziraphale said. “There ought to be candles.”

Crowley raised an eyebrow. If this was somehow supposed to be a birthday for one or both of them, did that mean six thousand candles? “Might be a bit of a tight fit.” And how was it supposed to be a birthday, anyway? He still felt very confused.

“Ah. Yes. Well, let’s use two, then. One for each of us.” Aziraphale snapped his fingers, and two small, flaming candles appeared atop the cake. “I still can’t believe you got this for us. Never took you for sentimentality.”

_Nor did I_. Even if they had bothered to invent birthdays – say, picking a random date to use whenever such a thing might be asked for by inquisitive humans – it wouldn’t be the _same_ date. He was pretty certain they had never agreed to such a thing, so how was this for _both_ of them?

But Aziraphale looked so happy – he couldn’t admit the pure coincidence of buying the cake today, whatever today was – Crowley rarely bothered to look at a calendar. He didn’t want to spoil his friend’s pleasure. 

“Do you want to blow out your candle?” Aziraphale asked. “Or shall I go first?”

Crowley smiled. He knew how to make things even more special, because he knew how Aziraphale felt about him. “Let’s do it together, shall we?”

Aziraphale positively beamed as they bent in close, heads nearly touching, to blow out the birthday cake candles.

Crowley leaned back again as Aziraphale plucked the candles out and then took up the knife to cut two large pieces. He handed one over.

Crowley took a big bite. The chocolate was dark, rich, moist – practically divine.

Aziraphale’s eyes closed and he had a beatific expression. “Heavenly.” He opened his eyes and said, “ _Thank_ you. How did you know? Why, I’d been thinking about it only this morning, how we never celebrate it.”

Crowley gulped. How did he know what he didn’t actually know? _Think fast_.

“Er, well, I…um, that is…I got a feeling. Yes. A feeling. I could _sense_ how you were feeling. About it.” Whatever it was.

Aziraphale frowned. “Really? That’s a bit odd.”

“Is it?” _Uh-oh_. Had he just made things worse? He thought Aziraphale would like the idea.

“Yes, it’s decidedly odd.” A note of displeasure crept into Aziraphale’s voice. “You’ve never mentioned before that you could sense my feelings.”

“Haven’t I?” Crowley quickly took a big bite of cake, and mumbled incoherently as he chewed, his mouth full. When he swallowed, he said, “Right?”

“Right, what?” Aziraphale looked a little tetchy now.

“What I just explained,” Crowley said.

“My _dear_ fellow, I couldn’t understand a word.” Aziraphale frowned at him again. “I am starting to wonder if you did this on purpose after all.”

“I didn’t – I mean, I did do it on purpose!” Just not the one Aziraphale obviously thought it was.

“Hm. I wonder. I don’t think you can sense my feelings _at_ all, magically or otherwise.”

“Course I can.” Now Aziraphale was just being contrary for the sake of being contrary – a tactic Crowley was quite familiar with, having been on the receiving end often enough in times past. “For example, I can sense when you’re feeling peckish and want me to join you in a meal.”

Aziraphale waved a dismissive hand. “Too easy. I’m always up for a good meal.”

“Right. Well, what about my driving? I can tell when you’re going to complain about how fast I’m going _before_ you say a word.”

“Another poor example. When have I _not_ complained about your driving skills, or rather, your lack thereof?”

Crowley sighed. This was hard work, sometimes, keeping Aziraphale happy. Time to hit him with the big one, then. “Fine. How’s this – I can sense whenever you’re feeling affection or love—“

“—which is most of the time,” Aziraphale broke in, “because that’s what angels _do_.”

Crowley ignored the interruption. “I can sense when you’re having those feelings expressly for _me_.” There. That ought to shut him up.

Which it did, for quite a few seconds, and then Aziraphale opened his mouth several times, started to say something, then stopped. Finally, after swallowing hard, he said simply, “ _Oh_.”

“Yeah, oh. Told you.”

Aziraphale stared at his piece of cake. “Well, then, I apologize. I’m sorry I doubted your intentions.”

“Thank you.” Crowley suddenly felt a mild pang of guilt. He’d actually succeeded at convincing Aziraphale that he’d bought the cake to celebrate whatever they were celebrating when he really hadn’t. The part about sensing Aziraphale’s feelings for him, though – that part, at least, was true.

Aziraphale took another bite of cake, swallowed, and said with a smile, “Happy Birthday.” He waved a hand over the desk, and two flutes of champagne appeared.

“Good idea.” Crowley took one up. As he turned to raise it in a toast, he noticed the calendar on the wall behind Aziraphale’s head.

Today was October 23rd.

His jaw dropped. _Oh_.

Naturally, the current human calendar system did not exist when they and the world were created, but Crowley did know that a famous bishop once calculated the Beginning to 4,004 BC on October 23rd.

Good heavens. Today _was_ their birthday. So to speak.

“What are you gaping at?” Aziraphale asked.

Crowley snapped his mouth shut. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“A toast is in order, I believe?” Aziraphale raised his glass. “To our birthday.”

Crowley grinned. Now that he knew what this was all about, he planned to mark the occasion every year from here on out. He hoped there would be at least six thousand more of them.

He clinked his glass against Aziraphale’s. “To _us_ ,” he said.

The look of pure joy on Aziraphale’s face stayed with him for the rest of that very special day.

###

**Author's Note:**

> While the show's intro has Ussher's age of Earth/creation as starting on October 21, according to Wikipedia he actually stated it as starting on October 23. I chose the latter, though I don't think it matters that much -- the main point being to have one day to celebrate together. There is also no hard and fast theological statement about which specific day angels were created, only that they were created prior to the end of the sixth day. So you could choose other late October dates as well.


End file.
